Automated system for generating proposed markdown strategy and tracking results of proposed markdown

ABSTRACT

The present invention discloses a method, program product and system for controlling pricing of a product or service using a markdown profile. The method includes: selecting a markdown profile to be used for the product or service, selecting a retail price for the product or service, acquiring updated sales data regarding the product or service, determining a markdown to be applied to the price from the markdown profile using updated sales data, and reconciling a markdown budget with the determined markdown to be applied to said price to determine whether the markdown will be applied. The method can further include the step of adjusting a retail price of the product or service by the markdown.

PRIORITY

This application claims the benefit of priority to U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application Ser. No. 60/551,221, filed on Mar. 8, 2004 andentitled “Inventory Management,” and U.S. Provisional Application No.60/563,284, filed Apr. 16, 2004 and entitled “Inventory Management,”both of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A. Field of the Invention

The present invention is directed to the field of pricing andspecifically to the automated pricing of goods using markdown profilesand markdown budgets in order to reach sales quotas.

B. Background

Effective pricing of goods that are made available for sale is often acomplicated task. In order to maximize profits, not only must revenue beoptimized, but also the costs of inventory must be taken into account.One strategy used is to periodically reduce the price of the goods orservices, effecting a markdown, in order to encourage sales of the goodsor services. The amount of the markdown is often set by a sales agentwho has had experience in the market for the goods or services and can,using his or her experience and intuition determine the timing andamount of markdowns.

In particular, the sale of seasonal goods poses a high financial riskfor merchants. This risk is even more acute in the retail business. Eachseasonal article can be assigned a specific sales period. Whenhigh-fashion and fashion articles are involved, the merchant wants tohave as little remaining stock as possible at the end of the salesperiod, as it will be difficult to sell this merchandise even withmarkdowns. In this case, larger remaining stocks translate to higherlosses. In addition to fashion articles, such as pink raincoats, thisalso applies to other goods, such as computer hardware.

For less “fashionable” products, the risk is lower because merchants canstore any remaining stock and then try to sell it at the normal priceagain in the same season of the next year. Because storing inventoriesis expensive, however, merchants will generally prefer to sell theirmerchandise by the end of the regular sales period.

Merchants use markdowns to ensure that the merchandise is sold out ascompletely as possible by the end of a season. Markdowns are pricereductions or buyer's incentives aimed at promoting the sale of certainarticles. Of course, markdowns reduce the gross margin, which means therevenue merchants earn for selling the merchandise is less thanoriginally planned. Merchants usually plan a certain budget formarkdowns that must not be exceeded. Accordingly, markdowns are appliedrestrictively in retail, which once again increases the risk ofremaining stocks at the end of the season.

Therefore, a goal in managing seasonal merchandise can be to limitmarkdowns to a minimum and apply them at the best suitable time, whileensuring that all or nearly all the merchandise is sold by the end ofthe season.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An embodiment of the present invention discloses a method, programproduct and system for controlling pricing using a markdown profile. Themethod includes: selecting a markdown profile to be used for the productor service, selecting a retail price for the product or service,acquiring updated sales data regarding the product or service,determining a markdown to be applied to the price from the markdownprofile using updated sales data, and reconciling a markdown budget withthe determined markdown to be applied to said price to determine whetherthe markdown will be applied. The method can further include the step ofadjusting a retail price of the product or service by the markdown.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent to those skilled in the art from the following detaileddescription. It should be understood, however, that the detaileddescription and specific examples, while indicating preferredembodiments of the present invention, are given by way of illustrationand not limitation. Many changes and modifications within the scope ofthe present invention may be made without departing from the spiritthereof, and the invention includes all such modifications.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing advantages and features of the invention will becomeapparent upon reference to the following detailed description and theaccompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a markdown profile in accordance with a preferredembodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating basic price control under the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As mentioned above, the primary goal in managing seasonal merchandiseand services is to limit markdowns to a minimum and apply them at thebest suitable time, while ensuring that nearly all the merchandise issold by the end of the season. An advantageous tool or system isdescribed herein that supports a pricing agent's work during the ongoingseason, in one embodiment the retail season. The agent forms acorrespondence between an article and markdown profile. This markdownprofile contains time-specific target data for selling an article duringits retail life cycle. The sales data of an article that sold well inthe previous year, for example, could be used as the target sales quotain a markdown profile. The markdown profile is tied to a pricingstrategy, which dictates specific price reductions when the actual salesdata deviates from the target data. As a result, the system is capableof monitoring the sales data automatically and notifying the agent ofany exceptions that occur. In addition, the system can propose certainmarkdowns in order to reach the planned sales figures. In this approach,the agent is relieved from a large portion of the activities he or sheusually has to perform. Using the markdown profile, the agent can obtainproposed markdowns for a given product at periodic intervals over thelife cycle of the sale of that product. The agent can choose to acceptor reject the proposals, but it is envisioned that in most cases, theproposals will be accepted and the goal of ensuring that nearly all themerchandise is sold by the end of the season is achieved.

The structure of the markdown profile in the preferred embodiment of theinvention is illustrated in FIG. 1. The markdown profile 100 specifiesthe target sales figures for the product, that is, the sales quotas forwhich no markdowns are needed. These target sales quotas are shown inrow 120 in FIG. 1. The target sales quotas are shown in connection witha time reference which can represent a retail life cycle of the product.In FIG. 1, the target sales quotas 120 are shown in connection withcorresponding numbered time periods 110 over the life cycle of theproduct, also known as posting periods. For example, a posting periodmay correspond to a week in the season of the product.

The target sales quotas are expressed as percentages in the markdownprofile shown in FIG. 1. These percentages represent the quantity of thegoods sold divided by the quantity of the goods available for sale.Thus, in the example shown in FIG. 1, at the end of the first postingperiod the target sales quota is six percent. At the end of the secondposting period the target sales quota is 26 percent. By the end of thesixth posting period, most of the retail product, that is 97 percent, istargeted to have been sold. As shown in the markdown profile in FIG. 1,these target sales quotas are arranged along an axis in the table.Arranged perpendicular to the target sales quota axis is a plurality ofrows representing ranges of actual sales quotas. These are shown ascolumn 130 in FIG. 1. As with target sales quota, actual sales quota iscalculated by taking the actual quantity of goods sold and dividing itby the quantity of goods available for sale. Each of the ten ranges ofactual sales quota shown in column 130 represent 10 percent intervals.It would apparent to one skilled in the art that any number of ranges oractual percentages could be used. The thresholds for the actual salesquota can be freely defined by the user.

In the markdown profile, at the intersection of each actual sales quotarange and each target sales quota corresponding to a posting period liesa cell which contains the proposed markdown. Cells in which no numbersappear indicate that no markdown is proposed. For cells in which numbersdo appear, the number indicates the proposed markdown percentage. Forexample, assume that the markdown profile shown in FIG. 1 is being usedfor a retail product that has been on sale for four posting periods (orfour weeks). The sales quota targeted for this product is 65 percent, asshown in target sales quota row 120. Now assume that sales of thisproduct have not met the targeted sales quota and, instead, only 235 outof the 500 items that were in stock have sold. This corresponds to anactual sales quota of 47 percent. Thus, using the markdown profile withthe actual sales quota of 47 percent falling within the range of 40percent to 50 percent, we look to the cell found at the intersection ofthis actual sales quota range with the target sales quota column of 65percent and find the number 40 in cell 140. This indicates a proposedmarkdown of 40 percent.

Thus, in the example described above, the system would indicate to theuser that a markdown of 40 percent of the original retail price isproposed. The user can then accept or reject this proposal. In analternate embodiment of the invention, the proposed markdown from themarkdown profile is automatically implemented to adjust the retail priceof the product. The user can override this automatic adjustment. Theprocess is repeated at subsequent posting periods over the retail lifecycle of the product.

While percentage markdowns are shown in the markdown profile illustratedin FIG. 1, it is envisioned that other types of buying incentives couldbe used instead of a simple percentage markdown of retail price. Forexample, a markdown profile could propose a distribution of a coupon inorder to encourage sales to achieve the target sales quota.

It is important to note that the computer system on which the markdownprofile is running and implemented has access to the data necessary topropose the markdown to the user. That is the system has access to theactual sales from the relevant store or stores for the relevant productor products during the relevant posting periods. It is envisioned thatmultiple markdown profiles would be provided to the user. These multipleprofiles would correspond to different types of products or perhapswould be specific to individual products. The user could also create newprofiles or revise existing profiles as desired.

In order to better control pricing for the sale of the retail productunder the present invention using markdown profiles, a user would selecta markdown profile to be used for the retail product at issue. The userwould also select the initial retail price for that product and then astime progressed would adjust the retail price of that product by themarkdown determined from the markdown profile as described above. Thisadjustment could happen multiple times over the life cycle of theproduct. The system can be programmed to perform the adjusting step atregular intervals such as at the end of each posting period. In thiscase it is envisioned that for a product selling well no mark-down maybe necessary under certain posting periods.

Not shown in FIG. 1 is a data field associated with a markdown profilethat pertains to some product characteristic. This data field allows fora markdown profile to be identified as relevant to a specific retailproduct or to a specific category of retail products. The assignment ofa markdown profile to a retail product or products is described infurther detail herein.

As mentioned above, the user forms a correspondence between a product tobe sold and a markdown profile. In the preferred embodiment of theinvention, the user is provided with a plurality of markdown profilesfrom which to choose in order to select a markdown profile to be usedfor a particular product. These markdown profiles are prepared inadvance of selection. Alternatively, the user can revise an existingmarkdown profile or even create an entirely new markdown profile to beused for the particular product. Further still, the automatic assignmentof markdown profiles is envisioned.

In order to more efficiently search for potentially applicable andrelevant markdown profiles, the markdown profile contains at least oneand preferably three assignable attribute fields. These fields containattribute data regarding a product or service. For example, the fieldsmay contain indicators representing the product type (e.g., raincoats),the color, the size, the sales organization, and the distribution. Also,markdown profiles can be differentiated by the applicable sales season.Using the attribute field information, the user can search for themarkdown profile that best suits the user's need for a particularproduct or service.

Different markdown profiles can address different reaction strategiesand sales profiles. It is envisioned that at least three reactionstrategies could be provided: aggressive, defensive and normal.Similarly, three sales profiles could be provided: linear, progressiveand declining.

When selecting from among a plurality of markdown profiles, the user cantoggle between them using a single action of a user-input device, suchas a pressing a key on a keyboard. This single action would togglebetween multiple markdown profiles. In the case of reaction strategiesand sales profiles, the single action would toggle between the variousversions of the markdown profile.

In forming the correspondence between products and markdown profiles,the user can assign a markdown profile to entire groups or categories ofproducts. For example, one markdown profile can be assigned to allproducts of a particular type (e.g., raincoats). The user can also morefinely correspond specific markdown profiles to sub-groupings of thoseproducts. For example, the user could assign a different markdownprofile to red raincoats than is assigned to blue raincoats anddifferent than is assigned to the larger category of all raincoats.Indeed, a markdown profile may be specifically tailored for a particularproduct of a particular color and size. In the preferred embodiment, ifan individual product is not separately assigned a specific markdownprofile, then the markdown profile for the relevant larger productcategory will be used for that product.

While, in FIG. 1, the markdown profile is shown as a table, is would beapparent to one skilled in the art that any suitable configuration couldbe used to convey the same information and all such configurations wouldbe within the scope of the present invention. Furthermore, the markdownprofiles can represent information about the sales of a product in agiven store or for a group of stores. It could also representinformation about the sales of a group or category of products.

It is envisioned that a company will have in place limited budgets forapplying markdowns to the retail prices of products. A company may notwish to allow its agent to markdown prices of products by significantamounts and for extended periods of time. Accordingly, they may put inplace limited markdown budgets for a given product or for a given groupof products. In the method of the present invention, when a markdown isproposed, this budget will be checked in order to prevent application ofmarkdowns that will exceed the budgeted amount. In this way, someadditional control is exerted over the agents and some additional safetymeasures are placed on the operation of the system.

The budgets for each product or group of products are tracked andmaintained centrally, preferably in the same system that performs themarkdown control. A “planned budget” refers to the budget for markdownsof a product for a particular period. An “exhausted budget” refers tothe total amount of markdown that has been applied during the period.When a sale begins and during the course of the period, the “exhaustedbudget” increases. At the end of the period, the “exhausted budget”equals the total amount of the markdown applied on the product for thatperiod, based on actual numbers of products sold. A “cumulative budget”refers to the budget amount remaining for a particular product from theprevious period; that is, previous to the period corresponding to theplanned budget. This cumulative budget may be a positive or a negativenumber. A negative number would indicate that the planned budget for theprevious period had been exceeded.

The “available budget” is a calculated value determined by adding the“planned budget” to the “cumulative budget” carrying over from theprevious period and subtracting from that the “exhausted budget” for thecurrent period. This available budget corresponds to the amount ofmarkdown that is still available to be applied.

FIG. 2 illustrates the method of the present invention in a flowchart.The flowchart begins at step 200. In step 210, the user or the systemselects a markdown profile to be used for a retail product. In step 220,which may be performed before, after or contemporaneously with step 210,the initial retail price of the product is set. Step 230 illustrates theacquisition of updated sales data after some period of time has elapsedwhile the product has been on sale. This sales data is used in step 240in the markdown profile to determine the proposed markdown for theretail product.

In the present invention, before a proposed markdown is applied toadjust the retail price of a product, there is performed areconciliation of the markdown budget based on the proposed markdown.This shown in step 245 in FIG. 2. During this reconciliation, the systemdetermines whether, based on predetermined budget rules, a proposedmarkdown can actually be applied to adjust the retail price of aproduct. This determination is made based on whether application of theproposed markdown would result in exceeding the available markdownbudget. The predetermined budget rules may include some tolerance factorsuch that if the budget is exceeded but within the tolerance, it wouldstill allow the markdown to be applied.

If it is determined during the reconciliation step that a proposedmarkdown can indeed be applied to the retail price of a product theprice is then adjusted based on the proposed markdown as shown in step250. If it is determined during the reconciliation step that a proposedmarkdown cannot be applied to the retail price of a product then theproposed markdown is not applied to adjust the price of the product. Inan alternate embodiment of the invention, the system would calculate theamount of markdown that could be applied while still complying with thepredetermined rules regarding the available markdown budget. Thisallowable markdown could then be applied to adjust the retail price ofthe product.

In another embodiment of the invention, the proposed markdown is subjectto approval or rejection by a user (not shown) and, in the case ofrejection, the adjustment step 250 would not need to be performed. Inany event, the method returns to acquiring updated sales data, so longas it is still within the product lifecycle, step 260. The frequency ofacquiring updated sales data and determining a markdown can be adjustedby the user. In the preferred embodiment, it is performed once perposting period. Once the life cycle of product has been exhausted, it isassumed that the product will not be offered for sale until some latertime, if at all, and the use of the markdown profile is ended in step270.

“Article,” “seasonal good,” “product” and “retail product” are termsused herein to refer to the merchandise being sold, the pricing forwhich is controlled or affected by the markdown profile as used in thepresent invention. It is envisioned that the present invention will beapplicable to the sale of any type of good or service. Articles can bearranged in hierarchies. Article hierarchies can include designationssuch as, fashion, which in turn includes groups of articles by store, bydepartment, by division, by more detailed definition of the article,etc. For example, fashion can include groups of articles, includingmen's wear, ladies' wear, casual wear, beach wear, etc. Further, thesearticles can be arranged underneath a type of department for the storewhich is under the fashion category. In another embodiment, the groupsof articles by store can include a list of types of articles, such asbeach, casual, outdoor, etc. These article hierarchies can be arrangedin tree form for viewing on a display.

Articles can be selected according to the designation discussed above.An identifier for each designation can be used to track other data aboutthe designation including date ranges for the article's budgets, etc.

As noted above, embodiments within the scope of the present inventioninclude program products comprising computer-readable media for carryingor having computer-executable instructions or data structures storedthereon. Such computer-readable media can be any available media thatcan be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer. By wayof example, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EPROM,EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage orother magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used tocarry or store desired program code in the form of computer-executableinstructions or data structures and which can be accessed by a generalpurpose or special purpose computer. When information is transferred orprovided over a network or another communications connection (eitherhardwired, wireless, or a combination of hardwired or wireless) to acomputer, the computer properly views the connection as acomputer-readable medium. Thus, any such connection is properly termed acomputer-readable medium. Combinations of the above are also to beincluded within the scope of computer-readable media.Computer-executable instructions comprise, for example, instructions anddata which cause a general purpose computer, special purpose computer,or special purpose processing device to perform a certain function orgroup of functions.

The invention is described in the general context of method steps, whichmay be implemented in one embodiment by a program product includingcomputer-executable instructions, such as program code, executed bycomputers in networked environments. Generally, program modules includeroutines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. thatperform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types.Computer-executable instructions, associated data structures, andprogram modules represent examples of program code for executing stepsof the methods disclosed herein. The particular sequence of suchexecutable instructions or associated data structures representsexamples of corresponding acts for implementing the functions describedin such steps.

The present invention in some embodiments, may be operated in anetworked environment using logical connections to one or more remotecomputers having processors. Logical connections may include a localarea network (LAN) and a wide area network (WAN) that are presented hereby way of example and not limitation. Such networking environments arecommonplace in office-wide or enterprise-wide computer networks,intranets and the Internet. Those skilled in the art will appreciatethat such network computing environments will typically encompass manytypes of computer system configurations, including personal computers,hand-held devices, multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based orprogrammable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframecomputers, and the like. The invention may also be practiced indistributed computing environments where tasks are performed by localand remote processing devices that are linked (either by hardwiredlinks, wireless links, or by a combination of hardwired or wirelesslinks) through a communications network. In a distributed computingenvironment, program modules may be located in both local and remotememory storage devices.

An exemplary system for implementing the overall system or portions ofthe invention might include a general purpose computing device in theform of a conventional computer, including a processing unit, a systemmemory, and a system bus that couples various system componentsincluding the system memory to the processing unit. The system memorymay include read only memory (ROM) and random access memory (RAM). Thecomputer may also include a magnetic hard disk drive for reading fromand writing to a magnetic hard disk, a magnetic disk drive for readingfrom or writing to a removable magnetic disk, and an optical disk drivefor reading from or writing to removable optical disk such as a CD-ROMor other optical media. The drives and their associatedcomputer-readable media provide nonvolatile storage ofcomputer-executable instructions, data structures, program modules andother data for the computer.

Software and web implementations of the present invention could beaccomplished with standard programming techniques with rule based logicand other logic to accomplish the various database searching steps,correlation steps, comparison steps and decision steps. It should alsobe noted that the word “component” as used herein and in the claims isintended to encompass implementations using one or more lines ofsoftware code, and/or hardware implementations, and/or equipment forreceiving manual inputs.

The foregoing description of embodiments of the invention has beenpresented for purposes of illustration and description. It is notintended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise formdisclosed, and modifications and variations are possible in light of theabove teachings or may be acquired from practice of the invention. Theembodiments were chosen and described in order to explain the principalsof the invention and its practical application to enable one skilled inthe art to utilize the invention in various embodiments and with variousmodifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.

1. A non-transitory machine readable media having stored thereininstructions that, when executed, cause a processor to implement amethod for controlling pricing of a product or service using a markdownprofile, which comprises the steps of: selecting the markdown profile tobe used for the product or service; selecting a price for the product orservice; acquiring updated sales data regarding the product or service;determining a markdown planned budget, a cumulative markdown budget, andan exhausted markdown budget; determining a first markdown to be appliedto the price from the markdown profile using the updated sales data;determining an available markdown budget based on the markdown plannedbudget, the cumulative markdown budget, and the exhausted markdownbudget; determining a markdown cost based on the first markdown and aquantity of available products or services; determining that themarkdown cost exceeds the available markdown budget; determining asecond markdown based on the markdown cost exceeding the availablemarkdown budget, wherein the second markdown is determined by applyingpredetermined rules regarding the available markdown budget; and whenthe second markdown exceeds the available markdown budget, adjusting theprice of the product or service by the second markdown.
 2. Thenon-transitory machine readable media according to claim 1, wherein themarkdown profile is based on a product or service lifecycle.
 3. Thenon-transitory machine readable media according to claim 2, wherein theproduct or service lifecycle comprises a target sales quota and aplurality of posting periods.
 4. The non-transitory machine readablemedia according to claim 3, wherein sales data from a previous lifecycleis used as the target sales quota in the markdown profile.
 5. Thenon-transitory machine readable media having stored therein instructionsthat, when executed, cause a processor to implement a method forcontrolling pricing of a product or service using a markdown profileaccording to claim 3, further comprising determining, at the end of eachof the plurality of posting periods, whether the price of the product orservice is to be adjusted by the first markdown, the second markdown orto maintain the price of the product or service.
 6. A system forcontrolling pricing of a product or service using a markdown profile,comprising: means for selecting the markdown profile to be used for theproduct or service; means for selecting a price for the product orservice; means for acquiring updated sales data regarding the product orservice; means for determining a markdown planned budget, a cumulativemarkdown budget, and an exhausted markdown budget; means for determininga first markdown to be applied to the price from the markdown profileusing the updated sales data; means for determining an availablemarkdown budget based on the markdown planned budget, the cumulativemarkdown budget, and the exhausted markdown budget; means fordetermining a markdown cost based on the first markdown and a quantityof available products or services; means for determining that themarkdown cost exceeds the available markdown budget; means fordetermining a second markdown based on the markdown cost exceeding theavailable markdown budget, wherein the second markdown is determined byapplying predetermined rules regarding the available markdown budget;and when the second markdown exceeds the available markdown budget,means for adjusting the price of the product or service by the secondmarkdown.
 7. The system for controlling pricing of a product or serviceusing a markdown profile according to claim 6, wherein the markdownprofile is based on a product or service lifecycle.
 8. The system forcontrolling pricing of a product or service using a markdown profileaccording to claim 7, wherein the product or service lifecycle comprisesa target sales quota and a plurality of posting periods.
 9. The systemfor controlling pricing of a product or service using a markdown profileaccording to claim 8, wherein sales data from a previous lifecycle isused as the target sales quota in the markdown profile.
 10. The systemfor controlling pricing of a product or service using a markdown profileaccording to claim 8, further comprising determining, at the end of eachof the plurality of posting periods, whether the price of the product orservice is to be adjusted by the first markdown, the second markdown orto maintain the price of the product or service.
 11. A non-transitorymachine program product for controlling pricing of a product or serviceusing a markdown profile, the program product comprisingmachine-readable program code stored in a computer readable medium forcausing, when executed, one or more machines to perform the followingmethod steps: selecting the markdown profile to be used for the productor service; selecting a price for the product or service; acquiringupdated sales data regarding the product or service; determining amarkdown planned budget, a cumulative markdown budget, and an exhaustedmarkdown budget; determining a first markdown to be applied to the pricefrom the markdown profile using the updated sales data; determining anavailable markdown budget based on the markdown planned budget, thecumulative markdown budget, and the exhausted markdown budget;determining a markdown cost based on the first markdown and a quantityof available products or services; determining that the markdown costexceeds the available markdown budget; determining a second markdownbased on the markdown cost exceeding the available markdown budget,wherein the second markdown is determined by applying predeterminedrules regarding the available markdown budget; and when the secondmarkdown exceeds the available markdown budget, adjusting the price ofthe product or service by the second markdown; wherein the markdownprofile is selected based on an attribute of the product or service tobe used for sale of the product or service.
 12. The non-transitoryprogram product for controlling pricing of a product or service using amarkdown profile according to claim 11, wherein the attribute is atleast one of a product type, a color, a size, a distribution channel anda sales organization.
 13. The non-transitory program product forcontrolling pricing of a product or service using a markdown profileaccording to claim 11, wherein the markdown profile is based on aproduct or service lifecycle.
 14. The system for controlling pricing ofa product or service using a markdown profile according to claim 13,wherein the product or service lifecycle comprises a target sales quotaand a plurality of posting periods.
 15. The system for controllingpricing of a product or service using a markdown profile according toclaim 14, wherein sales data from a previous lifecycle is used as thetarget sales quota in the markdown profile.
 16. The system forcontrolling pricing of a product or service using a markdown profileaccording to claim 14, further comprising determining, at the end ofeach of the plurality of posting periods, whether the price of theproduct or service is to be adjusted by the first markdown, the secondmarkdown or to maintain the price of the product or service.